INDIA-GHANA BILATERAL RELATIONS

Political

Indo-Ghanaian relations have traditionally been warm and friendly.  President Nkrumah who emerged as an important pan-African leader and a leading member of NAM had a specially close friendship with Prime Minister Nehru. He visited India in 1961 and established the trend in bilateral relations for decades to come.

Bilateral relations received a big boost during the Third Republic, when in October 1981 President Dr. Hilla Limann visited India with an entourage of several Ministers.  The foundations of a more meaningful relationship were established during his visit, when five agreements were signed.  They were: (i) Indo-Ghana Trade Agreement; (ii) Agreement on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation; (iii) Cultural Agreement; (iv) Agreement for a Rs. 50 million Government of India Credit to Ghana for rural electrification and water supply; and (v) EXIM Bank Credit of Rs. 50 million for agricultural and small industries. All these agreements were executed successfully.

Besides Dr. Limann’s visit, there were other Ministerial visits from Ghana including the Minister of Trade (January 1981), Minister of Industry (May 1981), Minister of Rural Development and Co-operation (May 1982), Deputy Minister of Agriculture (August 1983), and again Minister of Rural Development and Co-operation (December 1984).  The PNDC Foreign Minister attended the NAM Ministerial Conference in Delhi in April 1986.   The Minister for Industry, Science & Technology visited India in September 1988, the Minister of Information attended an Afro-Asian Conference in Delhi in November, 1988.   He signed an MOU with Indian companies for electrical components.  In August 1995, Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways led a delegation on a visit to India on the invitation of RITES.  President Rawlings and the First Lady made a stop over in Mumbai on their way from Beijing on 1st October 1993.  He also attended the funeral ceremony of late Mother Teresa in 1997.   

On the Non-Ministerial side, a three-member media delegation visited India in February 1995, and Gen. Arnold Quainoo in March-April, 1995, and a CSIR delegation in May 1995.  The five Vice-Chancellors of various Universities in Ghana also visited India in early 1994.

H.E. Mr. John A. Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana, accompanied by a high level delegation of Ministers and representatives of the Ghanaian private sector visited India in the beginning of August 2002. They had a very successful visit and met with the President and Prime Minister, Members of the Government and leading Indian businesses in Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai. Four important agreements were signed between the two countries.  One of them relates to the setting up in Accra of a Centre of Excellence for Training in Information Technology as Ghana has good potential for the development of the IT sector. This Centre has become operational since December 2003. Other agreements signed were: Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement; Protocol on Consultations between Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian External Affairs Ministry, and a Cultural and Scientific Exchange Programme for 2002-2005. Senior Minister, Mr. J. H. Mensah visited India in March 2003 to attend TEAM 9 Ministerial meeting. Minister of Energy and Ghana’s former High Commissioner to India, Prof. Mike Oquaye, led a delegation to India in March 2005 to attend the CII Conclave on ‘India-Africa Project Partnerships’. Dy Minister of Trade and Industry led a delegation to India in November 2005 to attend the ‘CII Conclave on Central and West Africa’.

Prime Minister Shri  P. V. Narasimha Rao visited Ghana on 8 & 9 November 1995 on his return from Burkina Faso.  He was accompanied by Shri Bhuvnesh Chaturvedi, MOS(PMO), Shri Salman Khurshid, MOS(EA), and a large official, business and media delegation.  During the visit, PM met the President of Ghana, addressed the Parliament of Ghana, signed an agreement to form the Joint Commission and also held a Conference of Indian HOMs from Sub-Saharan Africa. The visit of Prime Minister of India to Ghana, scheduled for December 8-9, 2003, was postponed.  MOS (RIS) chaired a meeting with the Foreign Ministers of TEAM-9 countries, including Ghana, on 3rd July 2005 on the sidelines of AU Summit in Sirte, Libya. 

Minister of State for External Affairs – Eduardo Faleiro - came to Accra in February, 1987.  Earlier, there was a goodwill visit by “INS Godavari” in August 1986.   Shri Madhavsinh Solanki, Minister for External Affairs attended the 10th NAM Ministerial meeting in September 1991.  In August 1992, the Deputy Minister of Commerce, Shri Salman Khurshid visited Accra.   Congress Leader Shri N.D. Tiwari stopped by in Accra in January 1994 on his way from Abidjan.  In July 1995, Deputy Minister of Education and Culture, Ms. Selja paid a visit to Ghana. 

Indo-Ghana relations have retained their warmth. India is admired and respected by all Ghanaians for its perceived success in nation building and democratic traditions.  It is recognised as a leader of the third world and NAM.  Ghana has been generally supportive of India in world fora.  There are no problems or issues between the two countries.  Ghana has high expectations from India for assistance in various fields of economic development, especially in agriculture and agro-processing, IT, HRD, small scale industries, appropriate technology for manufacturing and industrial purposes, drugs and medical equipment, roads, railways and rural infrastructure.  India assisted Ghana with $2 million in setting up an advanced ICT Centre in Ghana. The centre named as India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technology, was jointly inaugurated by India’s Hon’ble Prime Minister and the H. E. President of Ghana by video conferencing in Accra in December, 2003.  It has been highly successful in conducting training courses in ICT and showcasing India. During the years 2001-2003 to date, India donated to Ghana items such as computers, water-pumps, sewing machines, motor-cycles, bicycles and sports equipment valued at over Rs. 70 lakhs.  Earlier, India had set up an Eye clinic in Keta Government Hospital where Indian Eye specialists worked for over six years training Ghanaian doctors and treating patients.  Till recently, an eye-specialist was working in Akim Oda (Eastern Region) Government Hospital. 

India has rendered considerable technical assistance to Ghana in its human resource development through various bilateral and multilateral programmes run by different departments/institutions of Government of India under Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan (SCAAP). Every year the number of slots for Ghana range between 50 to 60 and are fully utilized by Ghana for HRD and training.  About 300 trainees have been sent to India in the past five years for training in areas such as IT, food processing, biotechnology, entrepreneurship development, tool designing, production management, small business creation and income generating activities for women entrepreneurs, rural industry promotion and water resources development, etc.
India offers five long-term scholarships every year to Ghanaian students to pursue their studies at Indian universities at graduate, post-graduate and doctoral levels.  Out of these two are offered under Cultural Exchange Programme and three under Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme.

Cultural

A Cultural Agreement was signed during President Limann’s visit in 1981. India and Ghana have signed a fresh Cultural Exchange Programme Agreement for the period 2002-2005 during President Kufuor’s visit. 
There was a Cultural Troupe from India in January 1988 and again in March 1999.  A Film Week was organized in November 1990 and again in August 1994.  In August 1992, a Cultural Troupe from Punjab had visited, and in October – November 1994, another one from Haryana had come.  India had also presented large volumes of books to the Ministry of Education and the Universities in Ghana. Ghanaians, who have had contacts, dealings with or training in India, have formed Indo-Ghana Friendship Society in May 1991.

A Khadi and Village Industries Commission sponsored exhibition of handicrafts as part of the celebrations of the Mahatma Gandhi’s 125th birth anniversary was organized in December 1994, and a prestigious exhibition of modern Indian Paintings – for the first time in Africa – was organized in July 1995.  The High Commission organized a Children’s Painting Competition in May, 2001.  More than eighty children were given awards for their outstanding entries.

A music and dance troupe led by the renowned ghazal singer Penaz Masani gave performances in Ghana in September 2003. These were very well received in the country. President of Ghana, H.E. John A. Kufuor and Vice-President, H.E. Alhaji Aliu Mahama, and other Ministers and dignitaries were present during the performance.

An Exhibition on Indian traditional and contemporary paintings was held in National Museum, Accra from March 4-8, 2005. Indian artist, Mr. Tapan Bhowmick, represented the artists, whose paintings were on display in Exhibition, from the Lalit Kala Academy.

October 2005